STATEMENT OF LIBERAL PARTY PRESIDENT SEN. FRANCIS PANGILINAN ON SENATE PRESIDENCY AND LP LEADERSHIP

If there are moves to oust Koko as Senate president, we want to disassociate ourselves from that. We are not behind any such effort. Events have helped define and consolidate our position as a credible check-and-balance to the administration which is necessary in a democracy.

After being portrayed as a strong force at the Senate, those who are leaving the party, according to a news report that did not name its source(s), blamed "absence of leadership" for their decision.

It's more the opposite: They are leaving LP because of the presence of leadership now speaking out against a number of policies of the administration, such as the position against the death penalty, extra-judicial killings, etc.

And these critical views also impact on the politics on the ground, as supporters of a very powerful and very popular administration paint the Liberal Party a yellow demon responsible for all of society's ills.

Rebuilding the party in the face of an exodus of politician-members is hard enough. Doing so with half-truths thrown your way makes it harder.

As we observed on our think piece "Redefining the Liberal Party," truth - the foundation of justice and peace, and informed personal decisions and public policies - is under siege.

And our weapon in this our post-truth, volatile, and complex world of trolls, fake news, and lies? A clear and convincing vision of the future, with the truth told a thousand times.